Goalkeeping Tips, Tidbits and Random Thoughts

You gotta get out more

I am too busy to comment much on World Cup goalkeeping, unfortunately. But I do have some words of advice for Lee Woon Jae of South Korea... you need to get out more!

In the first half of the match against France, Patrick Viera powered a header goalward off a corner kick. Woon Jae was actually backing up into his net as the ball was fired in, and the ball apparently crossed the goal line before he deflected it out. No goal was given, however. Take a look for yourself. Awful goalkeeping, that.

Later in the second half, he made another save with his entire body, save his head, shoulders and hands (and, most importantly for him, the ball) inside the goal and over the goal line.

Simply keeping his weight forward and perhaps stepping off the line a foot or two would have prevented the controversy in the first place.

Labels: Matchday observations

My, your balls are slimy

The World Cup is underway, and with luck we'll be treated to some spectacular goalkeeping. The irreverent ESPN.com Page 2 has a few things to say about the Cup, including this:

My, your balls are slimy.
The balls that will be used during competition at the World Cup have been widely panned by goalkeepers. They say the balls are prone to knuckling in the air and become very slick in the rain. They also think the balls should be 10 times larger, covered in a thick, sticky tar and magnetized so all shots they can't get to bang off the posts or crossbar and fly harmlessly away.

The World Cup runneth over

Labels: Goalkeeping News and Analysis